NUCLEAR-DNA POLYMORPHISM IN A MANDENKA POPULATION FROM SENEGAL - COMPARISON WITH 8 OTHER HUMAN-POPULATIONS

A large and ethnically well defined Mandenka sample from Senegal is an alysed for 80 nuclear DNA RPLPs, and compared with eight previously st udied human populations. A high level of genetic diversity is found in this sample, comparable to that observed in two African Pygmy samples , but lower than that of a European sample. High population variation is observed for most markers. A neutrality test reveals that the marke rs used in this study can be considered as neutral. A high correlation is found between genetic and geographic distances (r = 0.62), suggest ing that geography does also affect long range population genetic rela tionships and is an important factor behind differentiation among huma n populations.